My
friend just told me that earlier
tonight she was held down and
sexually assaulted by four males
who attend our high school.
She confided in me and I'm trying
to convince her to talk to someone.
But she is set on not telling
anyone. Can you please help
me. What am I supposed to/ should
do? Thank you, Patty

Thanks
for your note to FEMINIST.COM--and
for clearly being a great and
loyal friend. While I respect
your friend's interests, I think
that you are right. It was her
this time, imagine who could
be next? And who after that?
This should be incentive enough
to encourage her to report this
incidence. I'm not sure where
you are--in terms of geography--but
at FEMINIST.COM, we have
a database
of resources. I suggest that
you use this to find the nearest
resource to you. These groups
can provide legal information
and also professional counseling.
If for some reason you have
trouble locating anything through
this, please contact me and
I will try to find something
near to you. You might also
check out our section of Violence
Against Women links for
more groups and hotlines.

Having known many women who
have had similar experiences,
I'm sure that she is blaming
herself, which, as you probably,
know is wrong. Nonetheless,
there are many things which
we unjustly carrying about guilt
about. Helping her to see the
"right" in this "wrong" act
will be one step toward justice
and one of the best things you
can do as her friend.

I hope this helps--and as I
said before, thanks for being
such a great friend.